240 Chapter 9
MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES
CULTURAL INTERACTIONThe
Olmec created the Americas’
first civilization, which in turn
influenced later civilizations.Later American civilizations
relied on the technology and
achievements of earlier cultures
to make advances.- Mesoamerica
- Olmec
- Zapotec
- Monte
Albán
2
SETTING THE STAGEThe story of developed civilizations in the Americas
begins in a region called Mesoamerica. (See map on opposite page.) This area
stretches south from central Mexico to northern Honduras. It was here, more
than 3,000 years ago, that the first complex societies in the Americas arose.The Olmec
Mesoamerica’s first known civilization builders were a people known as the
Olmec. They began carving out a society around 1200 B.C. in the jungles of south-
ern Mexico. The Olmec influenced neighboring groups, as well as the later civi-
lizations of the region. They often are called Mesoamerica’s “mother culture.”The Rise of Olmec CivilizationAround 1860, a worker clearing a field in the
hot coastal plain of southeastern Mexico uncovered an extraordinary stone sculp-
ture. It stood five feet tall and weighed an estimated eight tons. The sculpture
was of an enormous head, wearing a headpiece. (See History Through Art,
pages 244–245.) The head was carved in a strikingly realistic style, with thick
lips, a flat nose, and large oval eyes. Archaeologists had never seen anything like
it in the Americas.
This head, along with others that were discovered later, was a remnant of the
Olmec civilization. The Olmec emerged about 1200 B.C. and thrived from
approximately 800–400 B.C. They lived along the Gulf Coast of Mexico, in the
modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco.
Gulf Coast GeographyOn the surface, the Gulf Coast seemed an unlikely site
for a high culture to take root. The region was hot and humid and covered with
swamps and jungle. In some places, giant trees formed a thick cover that pre-
vented most sunlight from reaching the ground. Up to 100 inches of rain fell
every year. The rainfall swelled rivers and caused severe flooding.
However, the region also had certain advantages. There were abundant
deposits of salt and tar, as well as fine clay used in making pottery. There was
also wood and rubber from the rain forest. The hills to the north provided hard
stone from which the Olmec could make tools and monuments. The rivers that
laced the region provided a means of transport. Most important, the flood plains
of these rivers provided fertile land for farming.Early Mesoamerican Civilizations
ComparingUse a
Venn diagram to
compare Olmec and
Zapotec cultures.
TAKING NOTES
ZapotecbothOlmec